


Ganymede

by Beefmaster



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 07:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17341178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beefmaster/pseuds/Beefmaster
Summary: Richard owns a telescope (of course he does) and he shows Jared the night sky (of course he did).





	Ganymede

**Author's Note:**

> This is my SV Winter Exchange fic for dofferhat! I hope you enjoy!

Sweetheart, are you almost done packing?” Jared calls from the front room. He has arrived at the hostel earlier than the arranged time, because he knows that Richard will not, in fact, be almost done packing.

He’s right. Richard is currently sitting on his bedroom floor, surrounded by half-full moving boxes.

“Yeah, I’m almost done,” Richard calls out.

Jared pokes his head into Richard’s room. He’s not surprised by what he sees.

“Richard,” he says, disappointed.

“I know! I know! It’s just, packing’s hard.”

Jared lowers himself to the floor behind Richard. Richard scoots back until he’s sitting between Jared’s legs, resting against his front.

“Do you need some help?” Jared wraps his arms around Richard.

“Yes please.” Richard leans his head back onto Jared’s shoulder. “God, moving in with you is so much fucking work.”

Jared tightens his grip on Richard.

“You know,” he says carefully, “you don’t have to move in if you’re not ready. I’ll understand.”

“No, no, Jared, that’s not, God, that’s not what I mean at all. I can’t wait to live with you. It’s the actual process of moving in that’s a pain in the ass.”

Jared feels a wave of relief wash over him. He busies himself with kissing Richard’s neck to prevent himself from sighing audibly.

“Mm, I love when you do that.” Richard says, arching his back. He reaches back to run his fingers through Jared’s hair.

“Uh uh,” Jared says, pulling back. “We don’t have time for that. We’ve got a room to pack.”

 

An hour later, Jared somehow has Richard’s entire room packed.

“That’s incredible. How did you do that?” Richard asks. “This would have taken me all night.”

“We’ve all got our talents,” Jared says demurely. “Now, I think we should do a quick lap around the house, make sure you aren’t leaving any of your things behind.”

Richard’s eyes widen.

“My telescope!”

“Your telescope?” Jared asks, but Richard has already run out of the room.

Jared follows him outside into the crisp October air.

“God, I’m so dumb. I left my telescope outside last night. I was going to come back for it, but then I got distracted, and-”

“Richard, you were supposed to be packing last night.”

Richard looks at Jared guiltily.

“I know, I know, but the skies were so clear last night, and I was trying to see Jupiter.”

Jared’s face softens. How can he stay mad at Richard? His passion is what made him fall in love in the first place.

“My building has a roof,” Jared offers. “Perhaps you can show me the moons tonight?”

Richard smiles softly.

“I would love that.”

 

“I made us some snacks, I thought we could have a little picnic up here.” Jared opens the door to the roof with his back, and places his tray of cookies beside Richard.

“Thanks baby, they look delicious,” Richard says, without looking away from the telescope.

“Richard, you aren’t even looking.”

“I’m looking!”

“Then what kind of snacks did I bring?” Jared picks the tray back up and hides it behind his back. Richard finally looks up from the telescope.

“Um, pot roast?”

“You think I made pot roast? In half an hour?”

Richard shrugs.

“You’re Jared, you can do anything.”

Jared blushes and places the tray back down in front of Richard.

“Well, I didn’t make pot roast, I made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.”

“Oh wow, baby, those really do look delicious,” Richard says. Except the word ‘delicious’ sounds more like ‘dewishum,’ because Richard has already stuffed a cookie in his mouth.

“Do you have the telescope set up? I can’t wait to see Jupiter.”

Richard pats the ground beside him and swallows.

“Yep, it’s ready. Just look in here.”

Jared carefully lowers himself to the ground next to Richard and peers into the eyepiece. He gasps.

“Oh gosh, it’s, Richard, it’s incredible.”

Through the telescope, he can see a little striped ball that looks so intensely like an image from a science book that it verges on unreal. Around the striped ball are several white specks.

“Those little white things, those are the moons, right?”

“Yeah. Those are the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the four largest. Jupiter has 79 moons in total, but the Galilean moons..”

As Richard continues to ramble about astronomy, Jared focuses on the telescope. He loves hearing Richard talk, but he has learned that sometimes Richard’s ramblings are more for his own benefit than anyone else’s, so sometimes it’s best to tune him out and let him talk.

“And most scientists agree that there is an ocean under Europa’s surface, although they’re less sure about the other moons.”

“Europa?” Jared asks, looking up from the telescope. “Why is the moon called Europa?”

“All the moons of Jupiter are named after various lovers and daughters of the God Zeus, Jupiter’s Greek equivalent. Europa was a Cretan queen who was seduced by Zeus in the form of a bull.”

Jared smiles and wraps his hand around Richard’s thigh.

“Wow, so all the moons of Jupiter are women.”

“Not all! Ganymede is named after a man.”

“Ganymede?”

Richard looks into the telescope again.

“Ganymede is the moon on the bottom right there. It’s the largest moon in the solar system.”

“Oh wait, I think I remember Ganymede in myth. He was Zeus’s cup-bearer or something, right?”

“Exactly. Actually, he was the cup-bearer to all the Olympians, but he was a particular favor of Zeus. He was the most beautiful of all the mortals, and Zeus fell in love with him. He kidnapped Ganymede and brought him to Olympus.”

Jared nods sagely.

“That can happen to young men who aren’t beautiful as well.”

Richard’s heart seizes. His first instinct is to let Jared know just how beautiful he thinks he is, but he doesn’t think that would be helpful, so he keeps it to himself. Richard has learned that Jared doesn’t expect him to respond to these admissions from his horrible childhood. He just likes to be able to express them aloud without judgment. Richard can give that to him. He squeezes Jared’s thigh.

“You know, that’s not the only place you can see Ganymede. Lay back, I’ll show you.”

Richard and Jared both lay back on to the cold concrete of the roof. Richard presses in as close to Jared as he can.

“You see that constellation over there?” Richard points to the sky.

Jared scrunches his nose.

“Not really.”

“Yeah, it’s one of the hardest constellations to see, because none of its stars are particularly bright. But that’s Aquarius, the water bearer. Zeus loved him so much that when he died, Zeus put him amongst the stars.”

Jared turns toward Richard and places his head on his chest.

“Is that what you’re going to do for me when I die?”

Richard laughs. He runs his hands through Jared’s hair.

“I’ll do my best.”

They stay like that for a few minutes, enjoying the stars. Eventually, Jared breaks the silence.

“I’m so glad you moved in,” he says. “I want to spend the rest of my life right here with you.”

Richard’s face goes hot. These declarations of love still make him a little embarrassed. But that’s silly, he realizes. Because he loves Jared, and he wants to spend the rest of his life right here with him. He kisses Jared on the top of his head.

“And after that, we’ll spend the rest of eternity together in the stars.”


End file.
